The Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) formally opened a school-based medical clinic at John Marshall High School on Cleveland's West Side on September 4.
The clinic, which is being operated in partnership with MetroHealth, provides care for medical and behavioral conditions, including asthma, treatment for injuries and illnesses, as well as dental and vision care.
School-based facilities — which have also become increasingly common in rural areas in Northeast Ohio — are meant to increase health care access in lower income neighborhoods, said Dylan Armstrong, public policy fellow at the nonprofit Center for Community Solutions. Nearly one-third of the families in the Jefferson neighborhood where John Marshall High School is located are living in poverty, he said.
“Parents being able to take time off work to have their children be able to see a doctor, get their shots, really would just be an extreme barrier," he said. "Providing these services at the schools, it helps provide an opportunity for those students to reach care.”
On-site clinics also help reduce absenteeism, which benefits students' success, said MetroHealth Community Health Centers Chief Operating Officer Katie Davis Bellamy.
“Asthma is one of the biggest reasons that individuals miss school," she said. "And so when you have a school health center on site or a clinic on site, you really are able to help do collaborative care around asthma management.”
However, many school-based clinics across Ohio do not provide comprehensive care, Armstrong said. All clinics may offer primary care, but only 59% offer mental health care, with 25% offering dental and 17% providing vision care, according to the Ohio School-Based Health Alliance.
CMSD ensures these services are provided even when they are not part of the care at the facility itself, Bernetta Wiggins, Cleveland school's executive director for Integrated Health Services, said.
“I have mental health providers in all the schools," she said. "We have dental providers who are assigned, vision providers who were assigned. They come and troubleshoot our short areas to make sure we're getting our territory covered for all services.”
The clinic is the latest medical facility operating in CMSD schools joining Mound Elementary School, Glenville High School and Clara E. Westropp Elementary School. CMSD will add clinics at John F. Kennedy High School and Anton Grdina PreK-8 School in the fall.
According to the Ohio School Based Health Alliance, there are currently 35 school-based health centers across Northeast Ohio.
